How to Die in Oregon

Just watched this HBO documentary and I must say it opened up my eyes and even made me tear up a little bit. It's a fact of life everyone must face we will die and as shown many of us could be a terminal ill person like the folks portrayed in the film. Featuring real life cases in Oregon the first U.S. state to pass legalized physician assisted suicide in 1994 we see it's the best choice for many as it's better to go than suffer. Most eye opening is the case of liver cancer patient Cody Curtis a brave woman who fought to the end, but saw dying with dignity is best.

One uplifting part of the film is seeing the 2008 passage of the death with dignity act in Washington state, as the families of those passed are still fighting for assisted death. Interviews with people and advocate groups and doctors were most touching as no matter what your stance on this issue you feel that people like Cody Curtis is a courageous person. Eye opening film that hurts you feel pain and sorrow for those who's life is cut by a terminal illness, yet you feel happy for their courageous work of doing something right when no other means of help will work. Sometimes you have to end it. Most of off you will feel happy to just be alive after watching this painful documentary.

How to Die in Oregon was screened at Austin's SXSW Film Festival where it was very warmly received. This is a powerful, intimate film that closely examines the process of death and how it is carried out in the first state in the nation to legalize physician-assisted suicide, which Oregon did when it passed the Death with Dignity Act in 1994. Director Peter Richardson spent four years on this film which is tender and moving as it profiles several people in the process of contemplating their own mortality and seeking a means by which they can gain control over their own deaths.

The film is difficult to watch at times because it touches on the raw nerve of dying. While the film is clearly sympathetic to the agenda of those seeking to expand access to physician-assisted suicide, it is not, by-and-large, about the political debate. While one section does focus on a widow in Washington state working on a Death with Dignity referendum to fulfill her husband's last wish, even that section is really about her husband's death and her effort to achieve closure. This is mostly a narrative of the human pain of the dying process and the struggle to gain control by deciding how and when to choose one's own death.

The filmmaker does a wonderful job of presenting the case studies, particularly of the central story about liver cancer patient Cody Curtis and her family. Her story forms the backbone of the film and its emotional heart. Richardson manages to present extremely intimate picture that will allow many people to confront and deal with this extremely difficult issue. Our society has not yet figured out how to deal with this extremely difficult issue and films like this are extremely powerful tools for allowing us to begin to have that much-needed conversation.

The film is expected to run on HBO in the near future.

How to Die in Oregon (2011)

**** (out of 4)

This emotionally draining documentary talks about the 1994 Death with Dignity law that was passed in Oregon, which allows people the choice to pick when they want to die. The documentary talks with several people who have decided to share their stories, which has most of them dealing with a terminal illness that has no cure. The question becomes if they want to spend the last few months of their lives in pain or if they would prefer to end their lives through physician-assisted suicide. The topic of this has been a hot debate item for a very long time but thankfully director Peter Richardson doesn't try to turn this film into some sort of political debate. I think the film is a very honest and open look at all sides of the debate but thankfully we never get to any childish bickering between the sides. I had read a few reviews of this film and it one said that you'd be crying within the first five minutes of the picture and there's no question that these opening moments are some of the hardest I've had to watch. We basically see a man surrounded by his family getting ready to die, which to me leads to some of the most honest moments where you the viewer have to ask yourself what you would do. What would you say to your loved ones in the final minutes of your life? Would there be a final word that you'd want to get out? We also follow another woman, Cody, who is suffering from cancer and she's given six months to life but keeps the pills it takes to end her life is she decides to. Her issue is not knowing when to say she's had enough or if she'll know the moment when she wants to die. We follow her as her case gets better but then takes a drastic and fast turn. We also see things from the other side, which is a man whose health insurance says they won't pay for him to try and fight for life yet they will pay for him to end his life. All of these stories are just emotionally draining and although this film is a masterpiece, it's easy to see why it's appeal would be quite limited. I can sit here and say that the people here are inspirational and I can say that the director handles everything with such dignity and class but in the end the viewer is really going to have to ask themselves if they want to sit through watching people die. As depressing as some of these stories are, at the same time they are quite uplifting seeing people appreciate the life they do have and the importance of having people you love around you. HOW TO DIE IN OREGON is a very powerful, extremely well-made picture that is certainly worth viewing if you can put up with the graphic drama.

'How to Die in Oregon' is affecting often to the point of being distressing in its palpable sadness and sorrow. The magic of the film however, is in its ability to artlessly translate a restoring and comforting warmth in the face of such a despairing content. I was left feeling truly grateful to have had the privilege to have seen the film and learn about some of the wonderful people in it.

As a study, this documentary offers immediate proximity to people facing a part of life we must all face; death. And that is not an easy subject for most any of us to grasp or make sense of, no matter how much experience we have had with it. What would you do if you learned that you were incurably ill? Given a rapidly approaching deadline, a deadline you thought you wouldn't have to think about in such a manufactured light... not like this; not right now. How would you cope with being told that your body would soon vigorously, unapologetically and almost certainly painfully, deteriorate and part with... everything.

Now, what would you do if you were able to take back some control in the matter of your life. And if this were possible, what would it even mean?

This documentary addresses the option of physician-assisted suicide which is a matter quite different from euthanasia, (where a doctor is ultimately in control of the procedure) but it is certainly no less controversial. Physician-assisted suicide is a move towards giving terminally ill persons a choice; a choice they, and they alone, can legally make. An individual of sound mind, (who has appropriate witness signatures to report so), is allowed as much consideration and independence as possible in determining when and how they are to exit this world and their illness. It is the patient themselves who is to administer the substance which results in their death, and this is something revolutionary in the western world today.

Whether you agree or disagree with the medical, moral, or political advances in this film should not influence your decision to watch it. Rather, I strongly encourage you to add this to your watch list for two reasons: firstly, for its relatable and engaging accounts and the people you will get to meet, and secondly for its skill as a piece of film-making. If you are a lover of exceptional cinema, especially documentaries, you will not be disappointed.

Hopefully you will leave 'How to Die in Oregon' with an enhanced perception and tangibility of not only death and dying, but more importantly humanity, and what this means to each and everyone of us.

An easy 10/10 for me,

Boogie